Vito Rizzuto summoned to Quebec corruption inquiry: reports

MONTREAL — Police confirm they have met with Vito Rizzuto amid reports that he has been summoned for what would be the memorable spectacle of a reputed Mafia don testifying at Quebec’s corruption inquiry.

Provincial police will not comment on the inquiry appearance first reported by Radio-Canada, the French-language CBC.

The news organization said police delivered subpoena papers to Rizzuto, who was alleged to have been this country’s most powerful Mafia figure and head of a crime family with myriad international ties.

Even though news from his Montreal home in the six years since his extradition to the United States has been unremittingly bad — his eldest son, his father and his brother-in-law all lost to gangland violence; family and friends arrested; his business connections under attack; and the mob’s dirty laundry being publicly aired at Quebec’s ongoing corruption commission — his response has been steadfast: Vito Rizzuto needs no help from police.

That has not stopped anyone from wondering, and fretting, over Rizzuto’s plans when he is released.

“If you look at the TV or read the news, you have the impression Mr. Rizzuto will come out of jail with two machine guns and a tank and two revolvers around his belt,” said Jean Salois who, for more than 30 years, was Rizzuto’s lawyer and considered one of his closest confidantes outside of family and top criminal confederates.

“You read the news, and Mr. Rizzuto will come out of jail and avenge the loss of his father and his son and so on and so forth,” he told the National Post. “This is kind of ridiculous.”

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One crooked Montreal civil servant testified that he liked Rizzuto, and found him a charming and entertaining travel companion.

Rizzuto’s late father, Nicolo, has played a more prominent role at the inquiry.

Police surveillance footage has shown him stuffing cash into his socks after receiving it from construction bosses.

The inquiry has heard that bid-rigging construction cartels in Quebec drove up the cost of public works with the help of corrupt municipal officials, then shared some of the profits with the Mafia and through kickbacks to the officials and political parties.

The mayors of Montreal and nearby Laval have resigned as a result of the ongoing scandal.

The police surveillance footage of the elder Rizzuto was recorded while Vito Rizzuto was in prison on a decades-old U.S. murder charge.

He was released from a Colorado penitentiary several weeks ago.

During his years behind bars, the Rizzuto family faced a violent putsch. Many of Rizzuto’s friends and family disappeared or were killed, including his father and a son who were both gunned down.

Police now believe people loyal to Rizzuto may be behind several retaliatory acts since he was released.